There's a stickied post at the top of this community about 10 things you can do to resist the second Trump administration. It was published on January 23, 2025, and some parts are getting stale only 11 days later.
I intend for this to be a collaborative, brainstorming effort, focused into 4 parts:
Part 1: Actions that are the legal exercise of rights you have.
Part 2: Actions that might not be legal, but are nonviolent and non-destructive forms of disruption, from poisoning data sources to tying up manpower and physical resources on wild goose chases.
Part 3: Actions that probably are not legal, but are still nonviolent methods of disruption that may involve property destruction.
Part 4: Actions that may involve physical violence against people.
This thread is going to be about Part 1: legal ways to stop or slow down or otherwise disrupt Trump's agenda. When I get the time, I'll start filling out the others. I was mostly motivated because I didn't see enough discussion of things that would fall under Part 2, but as a preview, I think that Part 2 and Part 3 will have the most interesting stuff.
But for now, Part 1.
Political and Legal
Voting/Campaigning:
There are two open seats in the House, currently controlled by Republicans 218-215. Both vacancies, FL-1 and FL-6, are generally regarded as safe seats for Republicans (about 66%-33% in the 2024 elections), but the last Trump term showed that there's still room for upsets in special elections. And although 218-217 isn't enough to oust the speaker and take control over the House's legislative agenda, it does mean that every House member needs to show up to vote on everything, lest they lose the vote. It makes it much more inconvenient for Congress to support what Trump is doing, and adds a lot of friction.
Lobbying those with political power:
At the federal level, there are still elected officials who may have the tools to slow down or stop some of this President's attempted actions. The Republicans only have a bare majority of 218-215 in the House, and 53-47 in the Senate (plus tiebreakers). Many of the actions taken in the last 2 weeks have been illegal usurping of Congressional power. Encourage Congress (including Congressional Republicans) to take back some of that power for themselves. Let them know their jobs aren't safe, even in the "safe" districts or states.
At the state and local level, encourage all governmental organizations not to go along with Trump's initiatives. Schools, hospitals, police, other governmental functions should stop cooperating with the feds on things like immigration. Tell your elected officials at the state and local level. If your election precinct is anything like mine, there are dozens of people who rely on your vote, and need to hear a loud and voluminous series of voices telling them that they need to use their power for good, to resist Trump.
If you know people with influence, like major donors to a political party or candidate, a family member of a political official, lobbyists, journalists who amplify political messages, lean on them to make their voices heard on this. There should be a cacophony of loud voices from every direction encouraging resistance in concrete ways, to stop specific policies and actions.
Lawsuits and legal action:
If you have the means and are in a position to challenge any executive actions in court, do so. It doesn't matter if your own issue isn't necessarily politically charged. Tie up Trump's DOJ and Trump's legal defense network with work, and get the courts to start bogging down Trump's executive actions, big and small.
Run up legal fees with the law firms doing work on behalf of conservative interests. Is there a private law firm representing Trump or his allies in a lawsuit that you're involved in? Make them do more work, and charge more money in the hourly bills, for work responding to your own motions/objections/requests. Don't make their lives easier.
Economic
Boycott and Divest:
- Don't do business with anyone who supports the Trump agenda, and don't even invest in the companies that do.
- If you can afford to, stop doing work for, or on behalf of, those organizations. Think of it like crossing a picket line, and refuse to do the work.
- If you run a service, turn fascists away, or even charge them a higher price (a mechanic silently adding a price premium for anyone with Trump bumper stickers, etc.).
- Your own personal budget or financial/economic power may be smaller than your organizational or work budget that you control. If you're in charge of ordering food for an office event with work funds, or decorating an office, or buying things for use in your operations, use that purchasing decision to make sure it goes to the right people, and away from those who support Trump.
Donate and support organizations who are doing good work:
- There are nonprofits helping the marginalized, fighting legal battles, or even little things like building technical tools for coordinating communications or organization on our side, or monitoring/reporting the actions of the other side.
- Many of these organizations can make use of donations, or your business.
- Even on the for-profit side, some businesses are doing good, either through charity or through focus of resources towards doing good. Support them with your business, and help others find them as well (good reviews, word of mouth, etc.).
Extract, within legal limits, whatever wealth or income you can from those who would support Trump:
- Charge Trumpers higher prices.
- Perform shoddy work for them when hired.
- Refuse to give them discounts you'd ordinarily give to others.
- Put them at the bottom of the priority list whenever you need to prioritize resources or efforts, whether we're talking about a home renovation project or a waiter deciding which table to drop food at first.
- Submit that costly warranty or return or refund claim for something you previously bought from a Trump-supporting business.
- Waste their time and waste their money.
Strikes/Slowdowns:
- If your employment contract allows it or if you can afford to lose your job over it, and you're in a position where your work tends to help Trump supporters, start looking at ways to strike, or even engage in some kind of sickout, in the most disruptive way.
- This is going to be heavily job/career/employer dependent, but it's something to think about whether it applies to you, and if so, to coordinate to figure out the best way to deploy this power.
Social/Cultural
Resist:
- Refuse to cooperate with those who seek to implement Trump's agenda.
- When ICE or any other Trump enforcement agency comes knocking, don't talk to them. Never consent to a search. Don't offer them food or water or wifi or warmth or parking or shelter.
- Refuse to give information or access without a warrant or court order.
- Even when legally required to comply, do it in an inconvenient way: turn over data in inconvenient and inefficient file formats (scanned TIFFs even if you have the digitally created PDFs, weird archaic photo/video formats, etc.), waste people's time with in-person demands or physical documents rather than electronic communication, ask dumb followup questions, etc.
- There's a sabotage manual floating around, and that's got a lot of good ideas, many of which are actually legal.
- Stand your ground when refusing illegal orders. Just this morning (February 3, 2025), a group of federal employees successfully turned away Musk's people from the OPM building, by standing up for the law (that's why this is in Part 1 of this series and not in Part 2, nonviolent civil disobedience).
- For government employees and military personnel and law enforcement officers especially, they're in the most important position to stand in the way of illegal firings, illegal access to systems, etc. If you can afford to, stand up for what is legal and right and refuse unlawful orders until you are removed, then challenge your removal until you are physically arrested and carried out. Make enough commotion so that your arrest will be filmed and broadcast.
Record:
- Take pictures and video, document everything that you see that is advancing the Trump agenda.
- Record illegal arrests, get whatever visual information you can of any faces or nametags or badge numbers, etc.
- Copy memos and notices, record announcements and orders and instructions, so that they can be analyzed later.
- If the fascists are looking to delete records, burn books, take websites or databases offline, etc., volunteer to download, store, or distribute that information.
- Actively participate by disseminating useful information, maybe even running websites that publish information that Trump's team is trying to suppress.
Report:
- Observe and warn about illegal acts by federal agents or Trump-aligned militias or other groups. Are there people bringing weapons to a Proud Boys rally? Did a pardoned January 6 insurrectionist illegally modify a firearm, or carry a firearm while intoxicated? Keep an eye out on them, because many of them will slip up and inadvertently leak details of the illegal things they're doing.
- Submit the petty complaints you'd ordinarily not bother with, like a Trump-supporting organization failing to comply with the fire code, health and safety code, illegal parking, etc.
- See something illegal that a Trump-supporting organization is doing? Report them and let them deal with the hassle. Get their vehicles towed, their power shut off, their rallies broken up, etc.
- Keep the press and public in the loop so that they know what's happening and can disseminate that information.
- Warn locals when white supremacists or Trump-aligned insurrectionists are rallying in an area.
- Share relevant information and video that you see, especially crossing mediums (e.g., copying and forwarding a video you saw on Lemmy to a person who isn't on Lemmy).
Speak up:
- Persuade the bystanders that what is happening is not normal, is dangerous and illegal, and encourage them to get involved, too.
- Give concrete examples of how Trumps actions have already hurt people.
- Show your receipts from when people downplayed Project 2025.
- Show the apathetic non-voter, or the uninformed voter, that electing Trump was a mistake and we need to do everything in our power to prevent them from consolidating more power.
- Appeal to their specific interests: show cops the videos of January 6 insurrectionists tasing and assaulting cops, show military servicemembers how Trump is exacting revenge on those who he himself appointed (Milley, Bolton, Pompeo, Wray), show business interests how Trump is extracting favors from the rich and interfering with markets, etc.
Isolate, Shun, and Shame:
- This is the non-economic analogue to the boycott and divest bullet point above. Mockery and shaming are more effective when you're naturally a funny guy, and where it comes off as mean-spirited fun rather than bitter/angry. Channel your stereotypical 80's teen movie jock making fun of nerds and go to town using popularity against these losers.
- Manage your social relationships so that Trump supporters don't get the benefit of your friendship or of the neighborly or kind things you do for others.
- Boycott the social connections of Trumpists. Stop inviting them to things, cut them out of your group message threads.
- Call people out on their support of fascism. Point out their hypocrisy. Make them uncomfortable showing their political beliefs in public.
- Point out the leopards-eating just deserts when you decline to help a Trump supporter with their Gofundme when they ask their social network for help while voting against their own interest when it comes to disaster relief, universal healthcare, workplace job protections, sick leave, etc.
Organize:
- Get like-minded people together to take action.
- Coordinate activities for maximum impact.
- Catalog what different people's skillsets are, so that we can all think through where a person's efforts may be most effective.
Infiltrate right wing groups:
- Pretend to be one of them. Gather intelligence.
- Record and report any crimes to the press, to law enforcement authorities that are positioned to act on it.
- Volunteer to do stuff to assist in operations, and then leave that stuff undone, or done so poorly as to be counterproductive.
- Poison their data, spread information or misinformation that disrupts their ability to organize or act.
- Even if you get caught and expelled, take some solace in the fact that you're adding to their paranoia that they've got people they can't trust.
Volunteer and help:
- There is, and will continue to be, a huge need for people who are able to help those in need.
- Everyone has different skillsets, and there will need to be doctors, lawyers, counselors, engineers, programmers, journalists, scientists, cooks, drivers, mechanics, and all sorts of workers who can do good things to help people in need. You each know your own profession best, and can figure out where your efforts can provide the most help.
There's a lot more to be said, and I think the juicier stuff will come in the later parts of this series with civil disobedience and more active resistance, but I wanted to get this stuff out there, and get people's creativity going. What did I miss? What did I get wrong? Is there something on this list that could use some elaboration?
That doesn't necessarily follow, and is inconsistent with past observations. At a micro level, take the example of greenhouse emissions from the United States, which peaked in 2007 and have come down since (despite population growth and economic growth). On a per capita basis, the United States peaked in 1973.
https://ourworldindata.org/profile/co2/united-states
At the same time, we simply cannot afford for other nations to increase their emissions to US levels on a per capita or per GDP basis. None of that has anything to do with the birth rate, and comparing the birth rates of different countries doesn't reliably predict whether their CO2 emissions equivalents change (either by amount or by percentage).
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co-emissions-per-capita
Simply put, the relationship between birth rate and effect on environment is so loosely related that pushing down birth rate is likely not going to push down pollution or environmental destruction. The solutions are actual engineering and economics, not family planning and demographic policies.